Mindgames
by hazelle
Summary: Set in early season 3, Chloe is still having trouble getting out of her deal with the devil. What happens when Lionel finds a new way to get rid of her instead? Chlark. FINISHED!
1. Part 1

**This is my first long Smallville fic, I wrote it last year so it's finished. There's Chlark, no TC but there is some TL (Torture Lex) ;) This is set sometime in early season 3, while Chloe is still trying to get out of her deal with Lionel. Feedback would be very good! Hint hint**

**Thank you very much to my beta katieishere, who did a wonderful job:D **

**Mindgames  
Part1**

Lionel Luthor emerged from his black limo with the usual level of revulsion and disgust that came from having to do his own dirty work. Dark shades covered his eyes and, rather appropriately, the spatter of rain falling on concrete accompanied the sound of his footsteps as he sauntered up to the gates of Belle Reve. No entourage flanked his sides, yet still he walked with a practised arrogance, a small barely concealed sneer of disgust playing on his lips.

The huge iron gates slid open with a mechanical hiss before he even reached them, and no guards delayed him by questioning his purpose. The mad raving of a few of the more extroverted patients did not distract or deter him from his mission, though he did allow himself a small scowl to show his displeasure at having to be there.

The squeaking of his new shiny black shoes on the green tile eventually halted outside the cell of patient 133, and he tapped one foot impatiently as the occupant got up with exaggerated slowness. Lionel Luthor did not appreciate being made to wait. For anybody.

"I see I find you awake and healthy." Lionel said by way of greeting, and the man apparently still had enough of his marbles left to raise an eyebrow, glancing round at the less-than-five-star accommodation. However, he got straight to the point instead of commenting on it.

"What do you want?"

Lionel perfected a look of fake astonishment and hurt. "I'm surprised you're so eager to get rid of your only visitor in, what, must be six months now. "

The man didn't reply, and Lionel gave a low chuckle at his silence. "I see your time here hasn't changed you, Aaron, as you call yourself now," he commented; then began strolling casually along the outside of his cell, hands in his pockets.

"Get to the point." The man ground out, obviously having to restrain himself from tearing Lionel limb from limb.

"Point?" Lionel stopped pacing and looked directly at his companion with an aggravating smirk. The man clenched his fists. "Very well." He said, a slight note of sarcasm in his voice, otherwise undetectable to those who didn't know him well. Aaron Asidian knew him far too well for his liking. "There is the small matter of your little sister… Katie, is… ah, _was_, her name, wasn't it?" Lionel said, laying emphasis on the past tense.

The man let out a primal roar and lunged forward; suddenly Lionel found his neck in the grip of a vengeful man who'd been working out steadily for the last four years, having had nothing better to do.

Aaron accused him furiously. _"You killed her!"_

"I never said anything of the kind." Lionel choked out, strangely calm. "She is safe and well under the care of Luthorcorp."

The man's grip relaxed and he slowly set Lionel back on his feet. Lionel straightened his tie and took a sensible step back from the bars of the cell.

"However." He added, and Aaron's heart jumped back into his throat. "Luthorcorp is expanding, becoming bigger, better. Katie has become… shall we say, 'surplus to requirements'?"

The man saw straight through Lionel's innuendo and threw himself at the bars again, seeing red. Nobody touched his sister, especially not rich old eccentric billionaires.

Lionel's infuriating smirk returned as the man desperately tried and failed to reach him, his green eyes appearing to glow with rage. He gestured to the bars separating them. "Lead bars, remember?"

Lionel turned to leave, then paused as if a sudden idea had come to him. "There _is_ one thing you could do to ensure her safety, though. I believe you were once on good terms with one Chloe Sullivan?"

The man's grasp on the bars became limp and his body turned cold. He shook his head vehemently. "No." He half gasped, half whispered. "You can't…no…"

Lionel's smirk grew.

* * *

"Hey Clark. Holding a staring contest with the wall? That's an all-new low for boredom."

Clark spun around, surprise written all over his features. "Chloe. Hi." Chloe tilted her head, frowning curiously at the guilty embarrassment covering up the surprise. "I was just… wondering whether this would be a good spot to migrate the Wall of Weird to," he added at the look she gave him, and felt quite pleased with himself for coming up with the lie so quickly when he was actually checking to see if it was safe to sneak past Principal Reynolds' office to his locker.

"Always an excuse for everything, isn't there Clark?" Chloe said with a sarcastic smile, then she turned and walked over to her desk, tossing a folder to land beside her stapler. Clark stood there for a second, trying to interpret her meaning before frowning and following to stand on the opposite side of her desk.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Busy plugging her computer in she absently replied, "You tell me. You're the one with the talent for twisting words."

"Twisting words?" Clark repeated, frowning even harder. "Chloe, what's-"

"We've got ourselves a new addition for the Wall of Weird. Looks like it really will have to move house. Or spread elsewhere." Chloe cut him off with a little laugh.

"Addition?" Clark again repeated, feeling a horrible knot of dread tighten in his stomach. Chloe was acting strangely.

"Yeah. You know the source at Belle Reve I told you about?" Chloe glanced up at her friend, pausing in her typing.

Clark wrinkled his nose. "You mean the guy with the-"

"The guy with the vendetta against personal hygiene, yeah." Chloe confirmed, and Clark walked around to stand behind her, leaning one hand on her chair and the other on the desk.

"He says one Aaron Asidian escaped from his high security cell by, wait for it, walking out in broad daylight in full sight of the guards who did nothing whatsoever to stop him." Chloe read out to him.

"That source of yours _is_ sane, right?" Clark commented sarcastically.

Chloe glanced a him. "If that sounds weird wait till you take a look at the files on the guards who were supposed to be, well, _guarding_ him."

Clark leaned even closer to the screen as she brought up the file on the men. His left arm came around her shoulders to click down to the next page and Chloe shivered involuntarily at the contact. She looked up. He hadn't noticed her momentary lapse of concentration. Oblivious as always.

"Everyone who saw him walk out and didn't try to stop him seemed fine if not a little confused after the incident, but once those responsible for his little walk in the park were fired, they just ... went off the rails." Chloe read aloud, pulling herself back to reality.

"And killed three fellow officers in the process." Clark said heavily. This most definitely was not making sense. At all.

"Aaron managed to get out even with increased security after all the fuss surrounding Lex's attempted escape. And nobody knows how he did it." Chloe finished, standing up and beginning to file seemingly random sheets of paper into folders.

Clark stood up, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. "Nobody? I'm betting the guards will have a little light to shed on the subject."

Chloe let out a little sardonic laugh. "Not where they're rotting in the criminally insane ward of Belle Reve, God help them."

"The guards become the guarded." Clark shook his head. "Well, sounds like a certain meteor freak to me."

"Well you would know." Chloe replied in a sing-song voice, pinning up some fresh newspaper clippings on the Wall of Weird as she spoke.

Clark shifted uncomfortably. "How would I know?" He answered defensively.

Chloe finished hanging up the clippings and turned back to him, hesitating before saying brightly, "What, with all the meteor junkies you've stopped you should have learnt something by now, right?"

Clark nodded, averting his eyes. "Right. See you at the Talon later?"

"Sure, Clark." Chloe smiled half-heartedly. "But you're buying."

"Deal." Smiling his charming Kent grin, Clark backed out of the room.

Chloe stared at the closed door long after he'd departed, a wistful if not bittersweet smile on her face.

**End of Part 1**

**I'll update every Monday, please review:)**


	2. Part 2

**Thanks very much for the reviews! Sorry for the lack of update, my email account doesn't like me. It's hiding outside my bedroom door ready with an axe. Don't worry though, email accounts don't have hands. ;)**

**Mindgames**

**Part 2**

The sweet scent of apple pie baking in the oven greeted Clark's nostrils when he skidded into the kitchen.

Nearly dropping the scalding hot pan of custard in surprise, Martha Kent looked up at her son who, as ever, was there to take it off her hands.

"Thanks, Clark." Martha said gratefully, and pulled on her oven gloves to retrieve the pie. Even with her back turned she told Clark to leave the custard alone, and he gave her a sheepish smile, licking custard off his thumb as she glanced back.

"Sorry, Mum."

She just gave him a pointed look before closing the oven door and motioning in the vague direction of the barn. "Your father's out fixing the tractor."

_"Again?" _Clark asked incredulously.

Martha smiled indulgently. "Sometimes I wonder why he didn't just marry the thing instead of me."

Clark grinned and dumped his bag on the floor. His grin quickly faded as he caught sight of the Torch assignment Chloe had set him.

"Mum, are you any good at journalism?" He began, fishing the paper out of his open bag and laying it on the table.

"Math is more my forte." She replied absently, stirring the custard. "Why?"

"Oh, Chloe set me this assignment… I'm supposed to write this article on how the addition of loudspeakers to announce classes improved the school community as a whole. And it's supposed to be over a page long." He stated forlornly, scuffing his shoe on the kitchen tiles.

Martha let out an involuntary laugh but hastily forced her expression back to seriousness at her son's face. "If I were you I'd use a large font, then." She told him, still smiling slightly despite herself. "And stop scuffing your shoe Clark, it'll take me forever to get that out."

"Sorry, Mum." He said again and sighed, sitting down and staring intensely at the assignment as if it would write itself.

"There's something else." Clark added a few minutes of comfortable silence later.

"Uh-oh." Martha commented, turning to look at him. "What happened now?"

"Nothing really happened… it's just… don't tell Dad ok? But I think Chloe knows something about me." He explained nervously, staring at his hands.

"Uh-oh." She reiterated, and took a seat opposite her son. "You _think_ or you _know_?"

"It's just little hints really, she keeps touching on it without really admitting anything… I just… I don't know, perhaps I'm imagining it." He glanced up at her worriedly.

"Well it's certainly real enough to ask me about it, honey. Go talk to your father." Martha urged.

"No, not just yet… he'd only get worked up and get out the shotgun or something equally drastic…" Clark smiled weakly with an attempt at humour, and she patted his hands before standing up.

"Well ok, but I want you to promise that if anything else happens you'll tell us. Both of us." She said reluctantly.

"Alright." Clark gave in, and kissed his mother on the cheek before super-speeding out to help his father with the tractor.

* * *

"What's this?" Lex demanded, thrusting a newspaper under his father's nose.

Lionel glanced offhandedly at the headline, took a leisurely sip of scotch then sat up. "I believe it is called a newspaper, but if you'd like to be a bit more specific, son-"

"I have no time for mind games. You know what I'm talking about." Lex snarled, tossing the paper onto the desk. "A top security patient, under the added security of Luthorcorp, might I add, escaped from Bell Reeve yesterday and 3 guards mysteriously die in the process. Yet all I find on the front page of every paper in town is the _earth-shattering _newsthat there will be no annual Spring Fair as planned. Care to explain?"

"You know as well as I do this is a precarious situation, the authorities I'm sure are working around the clock to find… Aaron, was his name? The last thing this investigation needs is media pressure." Lionel said as if that explained everything, refilling his glass.

Lex looked at his father for a second in sheer disbelief, "And you took it upon yourself to see personally that none of this leaked out. How noble."

The sarcasm bounced off Lionel like water off a duck's back. "Yes, well, this disturbed young man needs to be- corrected- before he can hurt anyone else, Lex!"

Lex leaned forward, "Then I have no doubt you'll have no problem explaining your noble intentions on visiting Mr. Asidian last night to the police." With that he straightened up and strode to the door.

"Is that a threat, son?" Lionel's voice halted him at the door.

Lex turned back slowly. "Surely you can differentiate friendly warnings from threats by now, Dad? " His voice dripped with sarcasm, and at the frustration he succeeded in producing on his father's face, he sauntered from the room, a triumphant smirk on his own face.

**End of Part 2**

**Like? Not like?**


	3. Part 3

**Here's the next part, right on time for a change. ;)**

**Mindgames  
Part 3**

Clark looked around for Chloe upon entering the Talon, then spotted Lana at the counter pouring coffee. A smile broke out on his face and he made a beeline for her through the dense crowd.

"Hey Lana."

"Clark, hi." She glanced up and gave him a brief smile before finishing pouring the coffee and hurriedly putting the mugs onto a tray.

"Busy day?" Clark asked as she darted around him with the tray.

Lana gave a little tense laugh. "You could say that." She motioned around at the teeming Talon. "Lex came up with a great new way to attract customers."

"I can see." Clark commented. "Need any help?" He offered.

Lana smiled after delivering the tray to a table of customers and headed back for more coffee. "I appreciate the offer but, I'm sure you've got better things to do."

"It's no problem." He contradicted er, tilting his head. She looked at him for a moment, trying to think of the best way to let him down.

"Clark, really, it's fine, I-"

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Chloe's blonde head bobbed up beside Clark. He glanced at her then back at Lana.

"Um, no. What's up?" He said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. He put on a friendly grin.

"I better get back to serving. I'll see you guys later, ok?" Lana cut in before Chloe got started on what she'd obviously dug up from the amount of paperwork in her hands and the excited look in her eyes.

"Bye Lana." Clark said quickly and she smiled a little at him before dashing off, balancing her tray precariously. Clark turned back to Chloe as she waved the sheets in his face.

"None other than Lionel Luthor visited Aaron Asidian last night, not 2 hours before he went AWOL." She announced proudly. Clark frowned at her and took the top sheet of paper from her hands.

"Lionel Luthor? Are you sure?" He asked dubiously after scanning the print-out of the email.

"Clark. When have I ever been wrong before?" Chloe said, and he smiled apologetically at her.

"I didn't mean to doubt your reporting instincts. I just find it hard to believe that a multi-millionaire would have nothing better to do than entertain inmates at a psyche ward." He told her, reading the sheet again as if to make sure it was right.

"Not when that particular inmate once worked for him on Level 3." Chloe said happily and Clark looked up at her sharply.

"Level 3? That was shut down about 4 years ago, Chloe."

"I was part of the whole Earl Jenkins hostage situation too, remember." She reminded him, raising an eyebrow and handing him another sheet of paper. "The skeletons still keep popping out the woodwork. My best guess is that this Aaron was infected by the meteor rocks whilst he was working for Lionel, I still don't know how he pulled the disappearing act but it sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it?"

"Hmm." Clark said in reply, absorbed in reading paper. "Wait a minute, Aaron tried to sue Lionel for-" he glanced at the paper, "for the 'deterioration of his health'?"

"Yep. Sounds like those meteors he worked with down there did more than add to his rock collection. Needless to say the guy with the army of lawyers won over the guy who tried to present his case to the court using string to hold his jeans up. Lionel turned it around on Aaron and pinned charges on him for stealing top secret development information which had gone missing about a month before Level 3 _appeared_ to have shut down." Chloe informed him, practically glowing with happiness at getting her teeth into a new story.

"And Aaron ended up in the criminally insane ward of Belle Reve." Clark said and let out a low whistle. "Just goes to show where messing with Lionel Luthor can get you."

Chloe looked away quickly so Clark didn't see the sudden tears threatening to fall down her guilty face. "Yeah." She breathed softly.

Clark didn't seem to notice, as he was frowning intensely at the information. "The question is, why didn't Aaron break out before? I mean, what's changed?"

* * *

Chloe left the Talon shortly afterwards, opting to do some more digging on Aaron's background while Clark agreed to meet up with her later to compare notes, so to speak. 

Despite the fact she'd only been the Talon for less than an hour, it had gotten dark pretty quickly. The once sunny streets were now dusky and the sun was sinking behind a silhouette of trees on the horizon much quicker than she'd ever witnessed before. The last of the summer crickets chirped merrily as if protesting against the growing cold wind. It was nearing winter but Chloe had decided to walk to the coffee house and back, leaving her little red car safely at home.

The streetlights were just starting to flicker to life when she felt eyes on the back of her head and heard rustling just behind her and to the left. Heart thudding uncomfortably in her throat, she jerked her head around in one sharp movement, intended to catch the unknown watcher unawares. There was nothing there.

Hastening her speed, she glanced back one more time before bending down on one knee under the pretence of tying her shoe lace. There was still nothing there. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion and she got up again, throwing sporadic looks behind her to check all was normal.

However, she still had the intense feeling that someone was watching, and they weren't far away. She quickened her pace, a strange ringing noise in her ears that muted the sound of a knife being drawn and footsteps falling faster on the pavement behind her…

**End of Part 3**

**Crazy Danae: Clark didn't tell his Dad because I wanted to avoid the whole 'be careful son' speeech. I hadn't seen much of season 2 and 3 when I wrote this, and how do you know for sure that Chloe knows Clark's secret? There's only innuendo! ;)**

**Emily: I didn't know American's said Math... thanks for pointing it out. When I have time (which is definitely not now lol) I'll go back and change it.**

**chloedouble1011: There were supposed to be dividing lines between each scene but I guess erased those. And I don't like labeling scenes - I prefer to keep the reader guessing, but thanks for the suggestion:)**

**suspension of disbelief: Sorry I don't write Chlex... actually I can't write Chlex. I've got nothing against it, I just can't understand the relationship lol.**

**Thnaks for the reviews! Pleaseleave another! I'm incredibly tired and filthy 'cause I've been mucking out horse stables all day (fun!) so bye!**


	4. Part 4

**This would have been on time if had let me log in when I wanted... grumble.**

**Mindgames**

**Part 4**

Clark's hurried pace faltered as he walked through the double doors to Lex's study and he saw that, strangely, his friend wasn't there. "Lex?"

"In here, Clark." A voice called, and Clark followed it to its source. Lex was in the massive library, and massive was an understatement. Clark looked and felt very out of place wearing plaid, trainers and muddy jeans against a back drop of polished mahogany and elegant shelves of leather-bound books.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. "What are you doing in here, Lex?"

"Hi Clark, I'm fine thanks, how are you?" Lex replied and turned around, a large emerald volume in his hands. He smirked in a friendly manner as Clark grinned a little self-consciously, then walked out of the library, expecting Clark to follow him back to his usual haunt in the study.

Once he was settled back in his seat behind the desk and Clark on the chair opposite, he replied as if no time had elapsed between the question and the answer. "I was looking for this." He gestured to the emerald book on the desk, and Clark craned his neck to read the title off the cover.

"'The Art of War?'" Clark frowned up at his friend, tilting his head. "Who's the enemy?"

Lex smiled and leaned forward. "I think you know the answer to that question."

"Your Dad?" Clark said after a moment of hesitation.

Lex once more treated the question as a statement and picked up the book, flicking through the first few pages. "I knew I had this somewhere. My father gave it to me as a birthday present when I was younger." He smirked. "I never read it."

"So why the sudden interest now?" Clark asked curiously.

Lex looked at him. "Let's just say the situation where I would actually need to read this never arose until now." He snapped the book and the subject closed and set it aside. "But I'm sure you didn't come all this way to indulge me in my nostalgia."

Clark cleared his throat. "No, actually… do you know anything about Aaron Asidian?"

Lex gave him a penetrating stare. "Now there's a name that keeps cropping up. Where did you hear it?"

Clark shifted uncomfortably. He certainly didn't want to tell Lex that Chloe had been doing some rather dubious digging through confidential files.

"It doesn't matter." He eventually said evasively. "I just heard he escaped from Belle Reve the other day… and I also heard your father saw him not too long before he escaped."

Lex looked at him sharply and seemed to consider his words for a while. "Then it seems my father's doing a great job of keeping things under wraps." He finally replied sarcastically. He got to his feet and poured himself a glass of scotch, holding a glass out to Clark as well. He shook his head.

"No thanks - so do you know anything about Aaron's time at Level 3?"

Lex seemed momentarily surprised at how much Clark knew, but quickly covered it up. "Let's see: worked there for 3 years, then when it shut down he tried to sue for damages to his health, of course he failed and ended up in Belle Reve and his younger sister was taken away under the protection of Luthorcorp."

"He has a sister? What's her name?" Clark asked eagerly. Chloe had never mentioned anything about his family.

"Katie, I believe. Her father died before she was born, and her mother died giving birth to her. Her big brother Aaron was 17 at the time so he gained custody of her and was forced to leave school and get a job to support them. That job happened to be at Luthorcorp, working as a cleaner on Level 3."

Clark sighed and stood up. "The puzzle just keeps on growing, doesn't it?"

Lex gave him a small smile.

* * *

Clark sped back to the farm and straight to his Fortress of Solitude to do some thinking. Chloe hadn't found out anything about Katie, which was odd as usually the easiest information to find about anyone was their family. Chloe always started there, looking for any connections to the suspected meteor freak to see if she could gain any insight on said meteor freak from questioning their relatives and friends.

Once that source dried up, she went onto things like track records with all things unusual, where they'd worked and who for, any accidents they'd been involved in. Clark smiled as he thought of her digging away persistently until she got what she wanted. She was like a dog with a bone, he thought, then grinned as he realised how insulting that sounded on so many levels.

Still smiling at the thought of his best friend, he stood up and strolled over to the loft window lazily, looking up at the stars instinctively. The telescope lay forgotten in a corner of the barn, its lens nowhere near the direction of Lana Lang's house. Perhaps Clark himself hadn't even noticed it, but he was slowly growing away from his childhood crush and moving onto something more solid, more serious.

A sudden noise jerked him out of his musings, and he jumped around to find a breathless and rather dishevelled Chloe Sullivan.

"Chloe! Are you ok?" He asked, concern immediately twisting his features as he ushered her to the old worn out couch.

"Um, yeah." Chloe said untruthfully, taking a grateful seat. "I'm fine really." She added as Clark looked no less worried.

Clark sat down beside her and gave her his best stern gaze.

"I'm just a little shaken up, that's all." She relented, still clutching her folder to her chest protectively. Clark gently took it from her and laid it aside, taking her hands in his without realising it.

Chloe looked down and bit her lip, then gave into the silent pressure from Clark to tell him what had happened. "I just… I was walking home, I didn't take the car since it wasn't very far and Dad's at work so I left a note… and then I heard this noise behind me… Clark, someone was following me."

Clark's grip on her hands tightened and he looked down at her with evident worry. "What happened? Did you see them?" He asked her urgently.

"I'm not sure… I didn't want to go straight home 'cause then he'd know where Dad and I live, he was obviously after me so I kind of figured I'd come here. But before I could, I don't really know for sure what happened apart from when I woke up, I was lying on the pavement, it was nearly dark and there was nobody in sight." Chloe finished shakily.

"He knocked you out?" Clark exclaimed, feeling anger bubble up inside him.

Chloe shook her head, confused. "I don't think so. I don't really remember, I just know I saw the silhouette of a man and I had quite a few disturbing dreams whilst I was out."

"What kind of dreams?" Clark pressed her.

She shook her head again, tears springing to her eyes. "I'm sorry Clark I don't know!"

Clark frowned and wrapped her in a hug as her voice broke and the tears ran freely down her face. He felt instant guilt for interrogating her, though he knew Chloe Sullivan far too well to believe that she couldn't remember the dreams, and he knew just a 'simple' stalking incident wouldn't upset her as much as this. Something was up, something she wasn't telling him, but for now he was content to rock her gently back and forth in his arms as she cried it out, her face pressed into his comforting chest.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Chlo'." He whispered under his breath.

**End of Part 4**

**chloedouble1011: No I'm not crazy! At least I wasn't the last time I checked. ;)**

**Moonjava: Hey there! Thanks, I'm working on a Spidey story now actually, should be up in a couple of weeks or so. :)**

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Every one of 'em is appreciated, any constructive criticism would be good too. As always please review!**


	5. Part 5

**The reason why this is incredibly late? Well long story short, my email account still doesn't like me and I have 3 exams tomorrow that I haven't revised for yet! AAAAAAHHHHHH! Runs away**

**Mindgames  
Part 5**

The door burst open with such extravagance that Lex half expected the President himself to enter. Instead Lionel Luthor strode in after the display and headed directly for his son, who was sitting at his desk sipping Tynant, enjoying his father's frustration.

"What is it, Lex? You should know I have no time for mind games." Lionel addressed him abruptly, and as antagonistic as all Luthors are, Lex finished his drink and sat up slowly. He aimed to aggravate.

"Nice going, Dad. You've successfully caught and held the interest of _quite_ a few people over the Asidian Affair, as it's come to be known." He greeted Lionel smoothly.

Lionel looked at Lex with disdain for a moment before speaking. "Lex, Lex, Lex, what have you done now?" He turned and walked to the drinks cabinet, pouring himself a glass. "What's leaked to the press this time?"

"Help yourself to a drink, Dad." Lex answered, not letting the misplaced accusation get to him. He'd known his father would try to shift the blame. "Somehow, a student at Smallville High was able to access top security files on the notorious Aaron Asidian. Any idea how that happened?"

"I'm sure they had some assistance in the matter; there's not many High School students I know of that are able to hack their way into confidential databases." Lionel replied blithely. "Does this student of yours have a name?" He added, not letting anything slip.

"But you do know _some_." Lex dodged the question artfully. "This isn't about how _they_ achieved it, it's about how _you_ managed to let things out of hand."

Lionel chuckled. "I'll take care of it for you Lex, don't worry. However, I would search closer to home if you're looking for someone to point the finger of blame at."

Lex smiled indulgently. "And home is where the heart is, that's what they say, isn't it, _Dad_?" Without waiting for him to answer Lex stood up, face to face with Lionel. "Stop treating me like your personal scapegoat. You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out. _Without_ my assistance. Now if you can find your own way to the door, I'm sure you have some important meeting to attend to, haven't you Lionel?"

Lex stood there for a few seconds, oozing confidence before Lionel finally spun on his heel and walked smartly to the door. He sat back down and switched on the computer. Lionel's voice suddenly interrupted him from the doorway. "If I were you, son, I wouldn't be so cocky."

"Is that a threat or a friendly warning?" Lex threw back, but Lionel simply smirked knowingly and was gone.

* * *

It was nearly six hours later when Lex was next interrupted from his work. A strange scuffling noise was coming from outside the door. Frowning over the top of his laptop, he glanced back at the simulation of his car hitting Clark Kent then shut it with a resolute snap. A muffled scream soon followed the scuffling sounds, and Lex stood up, grabbing a handgun from the drawer built into his desk. 

Looking up, he saw the double doors begin to slowly sneak open, and a hand appeared in the narrow gap.

"Who's there?" He demanded, and upon receiving no reply, Lex moved in front of his desk, feverishly snapping the cartridge into place and levelling the gun at the door.

In one quick stab of pain and confusion, the door slammed open and Lex fell to his knees simultaneously, dropping the gun as his hands flew to his head. He squeezed his eyes tight shut and against his will sunk onto the wooden floor, curling up into a foetal position and covering his head as if that would protect him from the pain and sudden images flashing on the insides of his eyelids.

The pain stopped as quickly as it had come, and Lex opened his own eyes to glimpse a pair of green-tinted ones before he succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

The first thing Lex saw when he awoke was the same pair of unnaturally green eyes. He momentarily jerked with pain again as he felt his mind being attacked and for a while he saw only what the attacker wanted him to see. 

He wasn't tied to a chair at all, there was no gag preventing him from screaming, he wasn't being held hostage in his own home but he was laughing and talking with his old schoolfiriends, and there was his father striding through the door, a genuine warm smile on his face and his arms spread wide for a hug from his beloved oldest son, and there was Julian beside him, all grown up and joking with his mother and they weren't dead at all, no, Julian had never been murdered at Lex's hands just as father had said, everything was fine and happy, his mother hadn't died, his father really did love him…

Lex screamed as he was snapped back into reality, a harsh slap across the face compared to the dream world he'd been living in, blissfully ignorant for the last few minutes. The room was dark and unforgiving, and there was the pair of ghostly eyes in the inky blackness, taunting him with their tales of a better place. Tears coursed down Lex's face and his breathing was ragged, he hadn't cried since his mother had died and he'd never been short of breath since the meteor shower.

He tried to speak, tried to let out a proper scream but the gag prevented him. He choked and started to cough and the man knelt and ripped the material off.

"What… happened?" Lex gasped out, a mixture of hot rage and empty sadness stirring inside him as he remembered the warm hugs and joyful smiles. What cruel world would taunt him with something he could never have? What sadist would show him everything he'd ever wanted, everything he ever could possibly want only to snatch it from under his nose? What kind of monster was this man before him?

"A taster." The man finally replied bitterly. "Feels amazing, doesn't it? To have everything you ever wanted? I know I had that for a while. Then your father took it away from me. Took Katie away from me." His iron-grey eyes hardened and he gritted his teeth as tears sprung to his eyes.

"You're… Aaron." Lex gasped out, still recovering from the mental onslaught.

The man stood up and walked away from Lex. "Yes. I didn't want it to come to this, Lex. Believe me, I don't want to do this." Aaron turned around and looked Lex dead in the eyes. "But I will if I have to."

That look sent shivers down Lex's spine, which was a hard thing to do to a Luthor. Aaron's eyes were tortured, desperate, empty. He'd been to Hell and back, and he'd had enough of playing nice.

**End of Part 5**

**Thanks for all the feedback, yes I love cliffhangers (evil grin), sorry for the lack of updates and also sorry for the lack of Chlark in this chapter!**

**Please review! Gotta go revise so bye!**

**P.S: This is set in season 3, but when I wrote this (which was ages ago) I hadn't seen any of season 4 and quite a bit of season 3. At the time I personally believed that Chloe already knew Clark's secret, so in this story although she's throwing out lots of hints, it's really up to you to decide on how much she knows. Oh and Clark is always surprised by new meteor freaks, the BDA. ;)**


	6. Part 6

**Hi! No I'm not dead thanks for asking, but apparently this story is. No reviews? Kinda pitiful isn't it? Ah well. I'm much more excited about my new fic which is nearly finished! YAY!**

**Mindgames  
Part 6**

"Chloe?" Clark entered the Torch cautiously, expecting his editor to jump him with nothing less than a metal pipe or baseball bat for being late.

"Over here, Clark."

Chloe was rooting through the filing cabinet i the corner, a small scowl of concentration on her face.

"Chloe, I'm sorry I-" Clark began but Chloe held up a hand.

"Ok, it's alright. Don't worry about it." She said quickly and Clark felt the lead in his stomach lift slightly. "I'm sure you had better things to do anyway." She then added under her breath as she turned away.

Clark's small smile disappeared and he walked over to her. "Chloe, it's not like that…"

Chloe straightened up and turned around, folder in hand. "What's not like what Clark?" She asked sharply, and he remembered he wasn't supposed to have heard what she'd said.

Giving himself a huge mental kick Clark shuffled nervously, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. Chloe couldn't help it. She smiled reluctantly at his deer-caught-in-the-headlights act.

Grudgingly deciding to let him off the hook this time, Chloe walked past him and to her computer, clicking back onto what she was researching. "Nevermind. Look what I found out." She beckoned him over.

"The bars of Aaron's cell were switched just before he escaped… several of the guards claimed the old bars were weakening… Chloe how did you find this out?" Clark exclaimed after skimming the page.

She grinned up at him. "Grasped at a few straws and found this on the end of one of them, I guess. And get this: The old bars were made of lead whereas the new ones were the regular stainless steel that all the other patients had."

"Lead..." He muttered. "There must be a reason for that, it's connected somehow, I know it…"

"The puzzle just keeps on growing, doesn't it?" Chloe commented and clicked off the screen. Clark smiled wryly at the very words he'd said to Lex earlier.

"Hey, perhaps Lex could help some more with this." He suggested optimistically.

"It's worth a shot." Chloe answered, glancing upat him.

"Yeah, I think I'll go ask him…" Clark said, then saw the look on Chloe's face. "…Right after I've finished up the article on the loudspeakers, which is infinitely more important." He grinned at her lopsidedly and she whacked him lightly with a nearby ruler.

"Get to it then Kent. Deadline in a half an hour, got it?" She ordered, starting to arrange the front page.

"Got it." Clark said back and pulled up a chair, taking the dreaded article out of his bag.

They worked in companionable silence for the next twenty minutes, occasionally one asking the other about the spelling of a certain word or if this particular sentence would fit in after that one.

"Clark." Chloe said thoughtfully a while later, having just finished printing off the first page. He glanced up at her for her to continue. "I've been thinking… you know the guy who followed me?"

"Yeah…" Clark said, his full attention now on his friend.

"Well, what if he was Aaron?" She said then quickly explained her theory ina rush before Clark could say anything. "I mean, I seem to have quite a track record with meteor freaks, and Aaron managed to escape somehow, leaving some interesting side-effects on the guards might I add. And I had some really whacked out dreams when I was unconscious - I think there's a connection."

"You could be right." Clark said pensively. "Some kind of hallucinatory powers, though?" He seemed a little doubtful at that. "What exactly were your dreams about, anyway?"

"Oh come on, Clark, we both know hallucinatory powers are not the weirdest thing to have happened here." Chloe effortlessly relieved the pressure on herself and gave it a 180° onto Clark. She stared at him pointedly and he stood up uneasily.

"I guess… here's the article, I better get over to Lex's, see you tomorrow!" He garbled out before slinging his bag over his shoulder and rather hastily making a beeline for the door.

Chloe looked at the article in her hands then up at Clark's disappearing back. She sighed and put it down, arranging it next to the front page. "Oh Clark," she muttered. "When are you going to let me in?"

* * *

Aaron didn't waste any time. After checking Lex was securely tied, her went back into the hallway and dragged all 6 unconscious security personnel into the room, piling them on top of each other by the wall like some sort of hideous modern sculpture. 

Lex watched in dawning comprehension as he then snatched a mobile phone from his desk and headed purposefully back to him. Lex couldn't help it. He trembled at the desperate, deranged look in the man's eyes. He didn't want to go through any of that mental torture again. He _couldn't_ go through any of that torture again.

Aaron seemed to notice Lex's discomfort as he approached him. "Don't worry, Lex. I need you sane for this." He knelt down beside him and waved the phone in his face. "Where's Daddy?"

"How the hell should I know." Lex spat out.

_"Where is he!" _Aaron shook Lex roughly, his emotions at breaking point. "I _will_ find my sister and you're gonna help me! Now what's his private number?"

Lex hesitated and in that moment of hesitation, Aaron delved into his mind again. Lex cried out, eyes rolling madly in his head as in his mind's eye he saw Julian lying motionless in his cradle, his mother smiling at Lex as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Lex touched Julian's face, silent tears streaming down his own. His brother's chest ceased to rise and fall and Lex wanted to strike out, to hit Julian for dying on him, he was supposed to live, he had _no right _to die!

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" Lex let out a deafening yell, his eyes snapped back open and there was Aaron, a glint of madness rising to the surface of his eyes.

"It's alright, Lex." Aaron spoke softly. "You can stop the pain. You can end it." His voice lowered to a much more threatening note.

"_Just give me the number_."

Lex trembled again from the aftershocks of the vision and choked out "377214."

"Good boy." Aaron stood up and walked away from him, punching in the numbers rapidly.

Aaron started speaking but Lex heard none of it. All he could see was his brother's flour-white face staring accusingly up into his own, his normally vivid hazel eyes closed in death. Lex didn't feel the hot tears slide down his face and drip onto his expensive silk shirt.

A raised voice eventually broke through his trance and he gazed up to see Aaron pacing, gesturing wildly to an invisible companion.

"Look, I won't harm Chloe! _I can't._ So just give up this little game and tell me where Katie is or your son is dead to the world."

Aaron paused and listened intently, then appeared to wish to throw the phone across the room with force as his face contorted with rage.

_"What do you mean that's not possible! You've seen what I can do! I have Lex right here-" _Aaron strode angrily over to him, putting a hand on the back of his chair. He thrust the phone to Lex's mouth. "Talk." He ordered.

"Dad? I'm at the-" Lex started to say, but Aaron roughly backhanded him across the face and yanked the phone back.

"Proof enough!" Lex heard as he tasted blood and is head swam woozily.

"I don't care what you think, can't you understand! _Your son will die if you do not co-operate!"_

Lex couldn't hear his father's reply, but from Aaron's reaction, he could guess he wasn't co-operating.

* * *

Clark slowed his speed to a slow jog about 300 metres from the front gates, however, he sped up again to something just above a normal human's maximum speed when he saw with his perfect vision the gates wide open and swinging in the wind, and the guard slumped over in the mud. 

He bent down and shook the man, but he was nowhere near the land of the living, as Chloe would call it. Swallowing heavily, he looked up at the mansion. It was in complete blackness, all the curtains were drawn and the huge oak door was creaking eerily in the strong breeze. Clark swallowed and stood up, then dashed into the house, dread lurking at the back of his mind of what he would find.

**End of Part 6**

**I'm very happy already, (only 4 weeks till I go to Turkey, only 3 more weeks of school, only 2 weeks till the new Harry Potter book!), but I'd be much more happy if some would reveiew. (How big a hint do you need:P )**


	7. Part 7

**Hey, sorry for the long wait (please don't kill me!) and thanks for the reviews guys! It's encouraging to know people are reading and enjoying this. **

**Mindgames**

**Part 7**

A scene of destruction met Clark's eyes as he slammed through the door into Lex's study. His mahogany desk was overturned and the various files and folders that had once resided on its surface were scattered haphazardly across the room. Several pool balls were still rolling lazily along the floor, bumping off of the broken furniture only to take a new path. Lex lay strapped to a chair in the very centre of the picture, blood seeping slowly from a head wound.

"Lex!" He twitched in his sleep when Clark called his name.

"Lex! Are you ok?" He rushed over to his friend, tipping him upright on the sturdy chair before easily ripping through the thick ropes binding him with one sweep of his hand. Lex began to slump sideways but Clark caught him and bent down so they were at eye level.

"_Lex." _Clark repeated urgently, and Lex's eyelids flickered and opened to reveal dazed and confused grey irises.

"Clark?" Lex mumbled, blinking furiously to clear his hazy vision. The room sharpened and he sat up fully on his own, gazing around at the mess before letting his stare rest on his worried friend.

"What happened? Are you ok?" Clark asked again, an Lex nodded in answer to the last question.

"There was…" Lex swallowed and his eyes darted about the room as if searching for an escape. "There was a scream… then he came in…"

"He? Who's 'he' Lex?"

"Aaron Asidian." Lex replied with crystal clarity, his eyes clearing for a second. "He came… and he did something to my head… I saw things…" He stopped and shook his head. "It's all so long ago… like it never happened, but it did happen… because I saw…" Lex trailed off, staring into space.

Clark tried to regain his attention. "What did you see?" He prompted.

Lex didn't reply and Clark sighed and rose to his feet, looking around for a phone.

"I saw… Julian… and Lillian… and we… we were happy…" Lex's unsteady voice came from behind him, and Clark looked down as Lex looked up, his eyes filling with tears. Then he blinked and they were gone, leaving Clark wondering if the tears had ever been there at all or if he'd imagined it.

Lex stood up abruptly and walked swiftly over to his desk phone, which has slid off but thankfully was still in working order. Clark had to take a moment to marvel at the way Lex could change his demeanour from one moment to the next. The old Lex was in charge now.

"I'm calling the police." He informed the teenager as he dialled in the numbers. "From what Aaron said to my father it sounded like they had a deal, but Aaron went back on his side of the bargain and Chloe has something to do with it."

"Chloe?" Clark repeated instantly. "What does Chloe have to do with this?"

"I'm not sure yet." Lex said, lifting the phone to his ear and turning his back to Clark to show he wanted him to be quiet.

A second later Lex got the feeling he was alone, and spun around to find Clark was gone, the only thing proving he'd actually been there the tattered ropes lying at the base of the chair. Lex sighed and relayed the events of that night to the police, knowing he should have informed them of his father's dodgy dealings long ago. Now not only himself but Chloe was paying the price for his mistake as well.

---

Slow footsteps alerted Chloe to her friend's presence outside the Torch office, and she smiled to herself.

"It's alright Clark, you can come in. Don't worry, I won't bite your head off for using a size 16 font instead of the proper 12." Chloe didn't bother to look up as a shadow appeared in the doorway, she simply smiled and shook her head fondly at her big dumb farm boy who'd tried to cheat his way out of writing the proper amount for the article.

However, when Chloe received no sheepish reply she began to look around, only to feel the sharp, cold edge of a knife at her throat. She gasped and jerked ramrod straight before she could stop herself, body quivering.

Her assailant didn't say a word, but the increased pressure of the blade on her skin told her he wanted her to move back and she did so willingly, most definitely not preferring the alternative.

Once they'd stopped well out of range of the phone, Chloe said in what she intended to be a strong voice, "What do you want? Because if it's money I've left my purse at home and-"

She was cut off by a deep voice that seemed to her to be altered somehow, as if to cover up the true attacker's tone. "It's not money I want."

"Then… then what is it?" Chloe could barely force herself to say the words, a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her exactly what he wanted.

"I want to be free again." Came the cryptic reply after some hesitation, but the answer didn't satisfy Chloe's fears.

"What's that supposed to mean? Because if you're some kind of wacko who takes sick pleasure in scaring teenage girls then you should know I'm a black belt in Ju Jitsu." She lied flawlessly.

"We both know you're not, Chloe." The voice trembled slightly. The man took a deep breath.

"I have to do this." He stated, almost as if to reassure himself, Chloe thought. "I… I don't want to do this…" His voice broke and Chloe felt warm tears slide down her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Sulley." He gasped out.

Chloe jerked with recognition at the old nickname she'd heard so many times in her days at Metropolis High School from her best friend…

"Mike!" She choked out, and as she did so her mind was hit with images and pain, the impossibly happy dreams clashing with the despairing nightmares.

Through the torture she distantly heard a quivering voice say quietly, "It's Aaron, now."

Ever so slowly, his hand shaking violently and tears streaming down his face and her back, he started to sink the knife into Chloe's vulnerable neck.

Aaron clenched his eyes tight shut so he didn't have to see it.

**End of Part 7**

**rhenq: Dark twist? I'm not sure what you mean... I don't _think_ it has a dark twist lol! Don't worry, major Chlark to come!**

**Emily M. Hanson: Sorry, won't be able to finish before I go. There's only 3 more chapters left as well!**

**chlodouble1011: Wel I did update, but it was late so I'm sorry! You'll find out about Chloe's dreams soon enough.**

**IMPORTANT: I don't have much time at the moment 'cause I'm packing to go to go on holiday today, so the next chapter won't be up for another 2 weeks, sorry! ( I seem to be saying that a lot lately hmm.)**


	8. Part 8

**Merhaba! Sorry this came even later than I said it would, it's cos I got back from Turkey late and I had chicken pox for 2 weeks and I had a load of homework to do that I should have done about a month ago! Sorry!**

**Mindgames**

**Part 8**

A strangled sob was the first thing Clark heard when he stepped cautiously into The Torch. A few steps to the right revealed a man, presumably Aaron, bending over Chloe. Clark's eyes hardened and a mixture of pure, unfiltered rage, dread and fear swept through him.

_"Chloe!" _He cried out and lunged forward at top speed, knocking the desk separating them over in the process. Aaron started to look up a split second too late to do anything but watch as Clark bowled into him, making sure the blade stayed well away from Chloe as he did so, and they tumbled into the next desk, a tangle of limbs.

Clark scrambled to his feet quickly as Aaron struggled to his. Clark noticed the tears flowing silently down the man's face and hesitated in surprise. He'd never encountered a meteor freak who'd felt remorse for his or her actions before.

"You have to know I never meant for any of this to happen." Aaron spoke quietly, pleadingly, and Clark held back, sensing there was something more going on than your average meteor freak attacking a student. Aaron shook his head and choked on a small sob. "I'm sorry, whoever you are."

With that Aaron caught Clark's gaze and held it, his irises smoothly changing from a dull grey to a sparkling, iridescent green. Clark felt pain clawing at the edges of his mind, the same pain that came when he was in close contact with meteor rocks, and he flinched and stepped back, staggering under the mental attack. Aaron stepped forward as Clark stepped back, their paces perfectly in time.

"Aaron you need to stop this!" Clark gasped, feeling his head spin and his barriers weakening. He staggered back, his knees shaking from the effort exerted on the muscles needed to hold him up, until they finally buckled and he sunk to the floor.

"You have no idea what it's like, do you?" Aaron's bitter voice broke through the pain. "Living life as a freak. If it weren't for Lionel Luthor none of this would have happened! _Don't you understand!" _He yelled at Clark as if he'd done something wrong in trying to protect Chloe. "I HAVE NO CHOICE!" Aaron advanced on Clark, shaking with barely suppressed anger and sorrow.

Closing his eyes against the agony, Clark reached out to find something to fight back with, and his hand found Chloe's soft hair.

A new purpose surged through him and he squinted up at Aaron, now towering over him with the knife in his hand. Aaron bent down slowly, the blade glinting in the dim light from a lamp, and Clark felt some of his strength come back on a second wind as he sensed Chloe stir in her sleep behind him.

Waiting for the right moment became agony, but when Aaron drew the knife back to thrust it into Clark's neck he forced himself up and tackled Aaron around the waist. They fell back onto the hard floor with a double grunt and Aaron's eyes dulled to the usual grey, his concentration broken.

For a couple of seconds there was silence as both fighters got their bearings, then Clark breathed a quiet sigh of relief and pushed himself into a kneeling position. He glanced behind him at Chloe, who seemed to be unconscious. He twisted back around to Aaron at the sudden noise.

Aaron had managed to keep hold of the knife, and in a desperate and un-thought out move he drove it into Clark's gut. It shattered upon impact, the shards spraying across the room like some sort of tremendous silver firework. Before the first shard could touch the ground Clark had knocked out Aaron with a swift tap to the head and was already dashing back to Chloe, who was stirring and mumbling, her eyes half open.

"Chloe!" Clark sunk down beside her, touching her shoulder. She groaned and lifted her head slightly, revealing a long cut dripping blood along the side of her neck.

"Are you ok? Talk to me!" Clark said urgently, glancing uneasily at the small pool of blood beside her head.

Her eyes flickered open and closed several times in response, and she muttered groggily, "Clark?"

"Yeah, it's me Chloe." Clark reassured, a relieved grin breaking out on his face as she looked up at him with disbelieving eyes. "You're safe now. I'm taking you to the hospital." He added, but she was already out.

He reached out to scoop her up into his arms, then heard a groan from behind him. Sighing, he sped out to the equipment shed on the football grounds and hastily ran back to tie Aaron up with some rope. Then he quickly yet carefully drew Chloe into his arms, her head cradled gently against his chest, and was gone in the blink of an eye.

---

The door swung open cleanly when Clark pushed against it, courtesy of the recent oiling the hinges had been submitted to. His parents looked up, somehow sensing his entrance though he made no sound.

"Clark? What's wrong?" Martha saw her son's white face and immediately her mothering instincts took over. She came over to him and felt his forehead, lines of worry creasing her forehead.

"I'm fine, Mum, really. It's Chloe." Clark sighed, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Jonathon and Martha sunk into seats opposite him.

"What happened, son?" Jonathon went directly to the point.

"You know the break out at Belle Reve I told you about a few days back?" At their affirmative nods he continued. "The guy, Aaron, held Lex hostage and then attacked Chloe."

"Oh my…" Martha gasped. "Are they ok?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah. Lex was unconsious when I got to the Mansion and Aaron had already left - I caught him at the Torch, but Chloe's in the hospital. I think she'll be ok, though she was a little confused and there was a pretty deep cut on her neck."

Jonathon cleared his throat. "So why exactly was this Aaron kid after Lex and Chloe?"

Clark sighed. "It's a long story." He warned.

"Clark." His father said in a tone that left no room for arguments.

"Alright." Clark gave in, and started the long explanation. His father of course was shocked, or perhaps a better word would be angry that Lionel Luthor was involved, after all he didn't put framing an innocent man and holding his sister hostage past the man. No, the thing that had him on edge was the way the Luthors always seemed to be involved one way or another.

"But all this was only according to this Aaron kid, right?" Jonathon checked after he'd finished explaining to the best of his ability.

"Well, yeah, he wouldn't stop talking about it when I got back from taking Chloe to the hospital - the police turned up not too long later so I couldn't really question him that much. He just said that it was all Lionel's fault that this happened, 'he orchestrated it all.'" Clark caught his father's meaningful stare and interpreted it correctly. "Aaron's not all that bad. I know he cared for Chloe-"

"So that's why he attacked her." Jonathon butted in. "And don't forget he nearly tried to kill you too, son."

"No... he just... tried to make me go insane... and then stabbed me with a knife..." Clark replied uncomfortably, growing quieter with each word and knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

"You have no idea why Aaron went after Chloe?" Martha jumped in and saved them from the awkward silence. Clark could have hugged her.

"Not really. I mean, I know Lionel forced Aaron to go after her, but I don't know why. Aaron didn't want to though, he kept saying 'I'm sorry' over and over. He even tried to stop Lionel from forcing him to kill Chloe by threatening Lex instead, hoping that would make Lionel let him go free with his sister."

"So the real question is: what has Chloe done to make her No.1 on Lionel Luthor's hit-list?" Martha mused thoughtfully.

Clark shook his head. "I don't know, but she'd been acting weird lately."

"Define weird." Jonathon shot back.

Clark looked up. "I don't know, she keeps saying things she wouldn't usually say. Like she knows something more than she's letting on…"

**End of Part 8**

**Please review!**


	9. Part 9

**I'm sorry! Lots of issues plus my beta reader has gone missing means this is a VERY late update. But I'll post the last part straight after to make up for it. Both these chapters are un-betaed, katieishere where are you:(**

**Mindgames**

**Part 9**

"Clark." Lex stated his friend's name, hiding the surprise from his voice with perfected ease. Said friend walked a few steps further into the room, which had improved considerably from the disaster area it had been the last time Clark had set foot in the house.

Without looking at what he was doing and without missing a beat, Lex closed his desk drawer with a hasty and silent push, turning the key in the lock afterwards.

He closed his laptop quickly, saying, "What brings you here at this time of night?"

His staff had long since clocked off for the night, and Lex had always thought farmers needed a good night's sleep to tackle all the chores in the morning, hence his well-hidden surprise.

"Chloe's in the hospital." Clark told him, and Lex leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and looking concerned.

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she'll be ok." Clark nodded.

"Thanks to you - again." Lex supplied, smiling slightly.

Clark looked a little embarrassed and distinctly uncomfortable. "Not really. I just took her to hospital." He said, playing down his heroics.

Lex gave him an unreadable stare before standing up and stretching. "I guess I owe you one." He leisurely walked up to Clark, stopping just short. "If it weren't for you I'd be dead or worse. That must be... exactly how many times have you been at just the right place at just the right time now, Clark?"

Clark shifted uneasily. "Um, haven't really been keeping count." He most definitely didn't like the direction this conversation was going.

"I have." Lex replied casually, and they both felt the tension in the air thicken. Then he smiled and dropped his gaze, relieving the pressure. He strolled over to the pool table and scooped up a ball, throwing and catching it with one hand absently.

"How about a game? You win I'll let you drive the Porsche… I win, you tell me your secret." He offered, picking up a cue from its leaning position on the wall. He tossed another to a dumbstruck Clark. At Clark's blank look Lex explained, "You have to tell me how you pull off both plaid and trainers _sometime_, Clark."

Lex smirked as Clark let the relief sweep over his face. He swallowed. "No thanks, Lex. I better get going, I still have to visit Chloe yet. Chores in the morning, you know?"

"Sure." His friend replied easily, still tossing the ball then snatching it from the air, his piercing stare still on Clark.

Clark backed away to the door, smiling his goodbye, but it was a troubled smile.

---

Clark fingered the flowers in his hands nervously. His stomach leaped for no apparent reason as a nurse went into Chloe's room at the small but friendly hospital. He looked down at the flowers again. It suddenly seemed very important to him that she liked them, and he didn't know why. They were daffodils, bright yellow and in full bloom, nearly sparkling with their intensity. Clark had been going for the typical roses when the golden flowers had caught his eye, shining like Chloe's hair and telling of things to come, a new spring and a fresh start.

He jumped again and nearly crushed the glistening stems in his hands as the door to her room opened and closed, admitting a nurse into the hallway. She smiled at him as he stood up, saying, "You can go in now, Mr. Kent."

He nodded his thanks tightly, his stomach leaping again, and twisted the door handle.

As soon as he met Chloe's eyes all his anxiety fell away.

She smiled up at him from the hospital bed, her petite body looking extremely out of place in the swamp of quilts surrounding her small frame. Clark felt a broad smile break out over his own face and squatted down beside her, there being no chair in sight.

"How're you feeling?" He greeted her brightly.

"Better. Much better." Chloe replied truthfully, then laughed sheepishly. "To tell you the truth I'm just glad to see a familiar face."

Clark allowed her the pleasure of his trademark grin. She grinned back giddily, and her dizziness wasn't just a product of the drugs they'd been pumping into her system for the last 24 hours.

Suddenly very aware of the tension in the air, Clark cleared his throat and glanced away, the moment broken. "So, uh, when are you escaping from this hell hole?"

"Well, I'm planning a break-out tonight, but officially I can go home tomorrow morning." Chloe quipped, then grew quiet for a while. Clark smiled.

"Thank you Clark." She broke the silence suddenly.

He drew his eyebrows together in surprise. "For what?"

"For being the dumbest farmboy in Kansas, what do you think Clark?" Chloe replied sarcastically, wanting to swat him upside the head but being unable to due to the IV line in her arm.

Clark grinned and looked away, unzipping his bag, and rummaging around inside. Chloe waited for the right moment and licked her lips in anticipation, then decided to just say it.

"I saw what you did."

**End of Part 9**

**Thanks for the feedback everyone, please continue feeding back:D**


	10. Part 10

Here it finally is! The last chapter! Phew!

Mindgames  
Part 10

Lex had been studiously ignoring his father to the best of his ability for the last twenty minutes. Lionel had deemed it necessary to spring yet another surprise visit on his only son, as always hoping to catch him out and as always, failing. Even a day after being held hostage at the whim of a so called madman, Lex had everything spick and span.

His desk was repaired, the pool table once again up upright with the balls in their proper places, the whole room was restored to its original grandeur. Indeed, anyone unaware of the events of the day before would not suspect a thing.

Lionel knew far too well of the events of the day before, and Lex more than suspected this was the real reason for his visit than just 'catching up' and 'making sure everything is working in order' as the elder Luthor had claimed.

So far all Lionel had talked of was stocks and shares, business and Metropolis and bank accounts. So far Lex had supplied the occasional "I'm sure" and "uh-huh" to create the impression he was listening intently, but at the same time extremely bored.

He pulled it off spectacularly, he could tell because his father's efforts at conversation were becoming clipped and few and far between. Finally Lionel turned from admiring, actually inspecting would be a better word, the suit of armour guarding the door and paced across the room to his son.

"Son, I know you're angry about what happened-"

Lex looked up, a coldness in his eyes. "Angry doesn't express the half of it." He said plainly. And it was true. He didn't know what he'd been feeling for the last 24 hours, overwhelming sadness, anger, bitterness were just how a few of the emotions could be described as, but the rest was a blank nothing that Lex didn't know how to swim up out of.

The corner of Lionel's mouth twitched of its own accord, the way it did when he was stopping himself from doing something rash, like choking the life out of his son for all he was worth. Instead he frowned and looked away.

"I did everything I could to prevent it, Lex. Now it's up to the authorities what happens to Mr. Asidian." By 'authorities' he of course meant LuthorCorp.

"Actually, it's up to LexCorp what happens to Aaron now." Lex corrected. and his father's gaze snapped back to lock onto his eyes. Lex leaned forward, interlacing his fingers on the desk. "He is in a top security cell in Metropolis. He'll be receiving specialised treatment and by the end of the month a group of experts will assess his condition. If all's well he will be released and his sister returned to him, after serving the appropriate length of time in prison, of course."

Lionel performed his trademark low chuckle he always did when he was surprised. He leaned back into the expensive leather chair, never taking his eyes off his son's satisfied face. "Lex, what kind of game are you trying to play? Aaron is _unbalanced_, a month's worth of treatment won't cure anything. He tried to _kill _you, son!"

Lex nodded patronisingly, smiling. "And he would have succeeded if it hadn't been for your unwavering loyalty, _Dad_." Without waiting for a reply, he picked up his cell phone and started tapping in numbers, spinning his chair around to his computer. His back turned and the topic clearly closed, he said, "I'll see you at the conference. Drive safely."

Lionel sat there for a moment, bristling silently, until Lex began to speak on the phone, a blatant signal for him to get out. He did so, a sneer of irritation twisting his face as he slammed the door behind him.

A few minutes passed after Lionel left, then Lex warily looked around at the door. It was closed, his father gone.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, he leaned his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Abruptly he snapped up his cell phone again and held it to his ear. "Dr. Mason. I have… an addition… to the room that you might want to take a look at."

He clapped the cell shut and withdrew from the drawer the length of thick, orange rope that had bound him to that chair for hours upon hours yesterday. The ends were strangely frayed.

---

"I saw what you did."

Chloe's voice was sudden, unexpected, and Clark froze in the process of extracting contraband from his bag. His eyes slowly travelled up to hers. He licked his lips, mouth suddenly very dry.

"What?" He said sharply.

"I saw what happened with Mike." She confirmed, and Clark felt his stomach plunge through the floor as if a lead weight had been dropped into it from a great height. "I was awake, and I could see you, but there were visions overlapping the room at the same time… it's a little fuzzy now… there was a knife…" She frowned intensely, remembering seeing her mother one moment and shards of metal from the knife showering down on the room superimposed a second later.

Clark fumbled with the bag uneasily, breaking eye contact, and said with a forced offhand manner, "Must've been another hallucination."

"Uh-huh." Chloe said in a non-commital manner.

Clark straightened up and cheerfully offered her her homework. Chloe's heart sank and her face fell but not for the reasons she told to Clark.

She put effort into a groan about the homework, pretending she'd bought his explanation and had by now forgotten all about it. If only he knew. She slumped further into her pillow. "I wish I'd never asked for it."

Clark grinned nervously and pulled out the flowers from behind his back. "Then perhaps this'll make up for it." He offered, and a bright smile lit up his best friend's face.

Chloe took them reverently, glancing up at him to show her thanks.

"I thought red roses would be too much of a cliché." Clark shrugged self-consciously, and Chloe stared at him.

"Roses?" She repeated softly, hardly daring to believe it.

He smiled awkwardly, his eyes looking at anywhere but her and a blush rising in his cheeks. "Yeah." He replied, equally softly.

His eyes darted back up to hers to find they were sparkling with disbelief and happiness. Clark's hand crept across the bed and found hers, never breaking eye contact.

"You mean…?" Chloe didn't want to jump head first into a relationship only to find Clark didn't mean what she thought. That would be so embarrassing she was sure she'd dig herself a hole out in the woods and never show her face to the light of day again.

"Yeah." He said again. "I mean, if you feel the same way…?" He added, seeing the look of disbelief on Chloe's face and feeling another lead weight drop into his stomach, pulling his confidence down with it.

Chloe simply nodded hesitantly, hardly daring to believe it was true. "Ok. We can take it slow, right?"

"Right." He confirmed. They smiled at each other for a few seconds then she suddenly looked away, pulling her hand sharply from Clark's as if it burned. His smile faded and he withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry… its just…" Tears sprung to her eyes and she took a deep but shaky breath, trying to stem the flow. "It's just… I'm not sure… if either of us are ready for this…"

Clark frowned. "You know, usually when girls say that it means they don't like you but don't like to say so."

Chloe smiled in spite of herself and shook her head. "No, no, it's not that… it's… I've done some things I'm not too proud of… and there's Lana."

Her voice shook on the last word. The tears won the battle and they overflowed down her cheeks, leaving wet trails of uncertainty. Clark shuffled closer to the bed and gently wiped away a few droplets with his thumb. Then he swallowed.

"Look, I won't lie to you Chloe, Lana will always be there. I can't just flip a switch and suddenly those feelings for her will be gone, but I like to think my feelings for you are stronger. You've always been there for me, supporting me, now I think it's time I'm there for you too."

During his little speech Chloe's face had been cheering up somewhat, reassured by his candid words, but at the last sentence she crumbled and a flood of tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Chloe, I'm sorry - was it something I said?" Clark said, bewildered as she reached for the tissue box on her bedside table and blew her nose.

"No." She said, sounding nasal. She sniffed loudly, pulling herself together. After a few minutes she turned her gaze to Clark with wet eyes.

"No, it's just… it's just I've been feeling a little emotional lately… with all the drugs they've been pumping into my system I'm not surprised!" She offered a small smile, missing out the part about the sleepless nights. The little sleep she had gleaned was full of overflowing joy, visions of her mother alive and well and making toast as if she'd never been gone, her father wrapping Chloe and her Mum in a hug, Clark gazing lovingly into her eyes beneath the stars…

The happy images never lasted. Far too soon for Chloe's liking the dreams shifted, her mother's cold face turning blue as she lay in her coffin, her father drunk and depressed moping around the house and shouting abuse, Clark rejecting her, the love in his eyes turning to disgust at her, a burning hatred.

"Chloe?" She realised she'd been staring into space for the last few minutes and snapped herself out of it. Clark's eyes were looking at her, full of concern and the promise of love.

She smiled a genuine smile as suddenly those fears seemed so far away.

"So do you have any idea why Aaron went after you?" Clark changed the topic, and her smile faded.

Hesitating, she debated between telling him the truth about her deal with Lionel and risk her nightmare becoming a reality, or keeping it to herself - a secret. It wasn't like Clark didn't have any of those, she thought reasonably, playing with the corner of her blanket. No, some secrets are better kept, she decided, besides, what does it matter anyway?

She glanced back up at Clark, opening her mouth to deny any knowledge, but no sound came out. She looked at him, so sweet and innocent. How could she shatter such trust in her? How could she show him the truth of her deception?

Tears once more welling in her eyes, she turned her head away, under the pretence of leaning over and delicately arranging the flowers in an empty vase, and slowly shook her head no.

Clark tilted his head curiously, his instincts telling him to press her for more but his heart telling him to let her come to him in her own time. For once he decided to follow his heart. He sighed quietly and stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, ok? You get some rest." He leaned down and pecked her on the cheek, wanting to kiss her on the lips but feeling that would be too forward. They'd decided to take it slow, after all.

Chloe gave him a half hearted smile, her heart breaking in two as he grinned at her brightly and slung his bag over his shoulder before exiting the room, leaving her one last lingering gaze.

She stared at the door long after he'd gone, sinking down into her fluffy pillow and letting the minutes turn to hours as her emotions warred with each other. She wanted to run and fling herself into his arms, to sob out every last painful detail. She knew his secret, she knew he'd been deceiving her. She knew his deceit could never compare to hers.

A single tear wound its way down the side of Chloe's face and soaked into her pillow. The clamminess of it on her cheek felt uncomfortable and she rolled over. As she did so, a bright shock of yellow caught her eye. The daffodils lay on the table in the empty vase, the once fresh green stems now shrivelled from hours out of water.

Fin

I hope you enjoyed, please tell me what you think, and thanks so much for all the reviews that kept coming, even though I kept you waiting so long! All I can say is I'm glad I've finally finished it, and I wanted to write a happy ending but it turned out like this. I've started writing the sequel which will hopefully have a happy ending, but I currently have a writer's block the size of Everest.Thanks again, and thanks to my beta katieishere if she's reading this :)


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